Why the “Vagrancy Law” Still Exists: Social Representations, Aporophobia and the Criminalization of Poverty

Abstract

Objective: The “Vagrancy Law” is an example of how poverty has historically been treated as a crime in Brazil and, despite attempts to repeal it, the law remains in force. This can be understood from the Theory of Social Representations (TRS). Thus, this article aims to analyze, based on the TRS, the bills that propose to repeal the so-called “Vagrancy Law”.Method: To this end, the procedures and justifications of the bills with this proposal were analyzed. The justifications were analyzed using the Descending Hierarchical Classification, in Iramuteq, and divided into five classes: (1) “Definition of the law”; (2) “Unconstitutionality”; (3) “Criminal insensitivity”; (4) “Medieval legal system” and (5) “Cruelty beyond legality”.Results: The results show that the most recent bills focus on legal arguments, while the older ones highlight the cruel nature of the law.Discussion: The discussion, based on the TRS, discusses the importance of polarization on the topic for some type of change to occur. A legislative system that favors specific interests and reinforces social inequality can be related to the permanence of the law.